14 Montgomery Co EQIP Executive Summary

The USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in Montgomery County, Alabama, will hold a signup for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for the 2014 Fiscal Year. This signup will be held on a continuous basis.

Any eligible landuser that has a resource concern or problem on pastureland, cropland, hayland, or forestland may apply for assistance through this program.

The USDA work group has prioritized the resource concerns in Montgomery County as:

Grazing Land

Forest Health and Wildlife

Soil Quality/Erosion Control

Water Quality/Animal Waste

Irrigation Water Management

All applications will be ranked using an environmental benefits worksheet and approvals will be given to those applications that will provide the greatest environmental benefits, i.e. those receiving the most environmental points.

Contracts will be developed for approved applications in order of descending environmental points, until all funds are obligated. Any applications filed later than October 18, 2013, will be considered in the next pool of funding (if additional funds become available).

Eligible practices, payment rates, and restrictions are the same as the Alabama NRCS state approved EQIP Practice and Payment Schedule.

Limited Resource Farmers, Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and New & Beginning Farmers will be paid at an increased payment rate.